October 2006 News on Francophone Concerts in New York

The Royal Drummers of Burundi
October 14 @ 8pm: Rogers Auditorium @ The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Ave
October 15 @ 3pm: Lehman Center For The Performing Art, 250 Bedford Park Blvd West
The music and the movement of the Mombasa Party celebrate the sounds and traditions of east Kenyan Taraab artists. Sacred drumbeats that once heralded the coronations of African kings are the legacy of The Royal Drummers of Burundi.

Armand Ntep - Afro Rythms Vocalist - Thursdays, October 26 @ 10pm
St Nick’s Pub, 773 St Nicholas Ave (corner of 149th st)
Originally from Cameroon, Armand Ntep is a superb, highly accomplished vocalist and a prolific, innovative composer, who has performed in the U.S., Europe and Africa. His vocal talent is broad in terms of range and style, from a silky baritone croon, to Pygmy-inspired syncopation, to tender tenor ballads.

Steve Poltz: The Upper North Side Canadian Music Series - Oct 11 @ 7pm & 9:30pm
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater - 425 Lafayette St
Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Poltz later moved to the United States, but tonight Steve celebrates his dual-citizenship with two shows under the Canadian Consulate General`s Upper North Side Canadian Music Series banner.

Dominic Kanza & The African Rythm Machine - Tuesday October 3 & 17 - 8pm
MoBay 17 West 125th St, Harlem
The spicy, joyous music of Dominic Kanza and the African Rhythm Machine is guaranteed to leave audiences in a good mood. Kanza, who is the band leader, singer and guitarist, provides dazzling melodic lines that circle above the group’s rumba-spiced beat.

The Mandingo Ambassadors - Saturday, October 21 - 9pm
MBarbès - 379 9th Street (6th Ave.), Park Slope Brooklyn
(Formerly known as Les Ambassadeurs du Mandingue) This legendary band was originally formed in Guinea, West Africa, in the late 1960’s by Guitarist Mamady “Djelike” Kouyate and singer Emile Soumah.

Nu-Look - Friday, October 6 @ 12am & 2am
SOB’s, 204 Varick St. @ Houston St
NU-LOOK: Back by popular demand, this group needs no long synopsis to inform people about them, NU LOOK is hot right now, if you don’t know NU LOOK, you need to come down on Oct 6th and be introduced to NU LOOK.

Cheikh Tairou M’Baye & Sing Sing Rhythms - Saturday October 7 @ 11:30pm ($20)
Joe’s Pub at the Public Theater - 425 Lafayette St
Traditional Senegalese Sabar music Cheikh M’Baye & Sing Sing Rhythmis a drum and dance company of Wolof griots from Medina, Senegal. Founded in 1987, the group is named for their ancestor, Sing Sing Faye, the first master drummer of the Cape Vert peninsula.